Gopher B.A.S.S. Federation Club Tournament

Lake Minnetonka, Wayzata, MN

Today was the sixth tournament in the Gopher Bassmasters season, held again on Lake Minnetonka. I was lucky enough to draw boat number one and headed right for a nice deep hard bottom spot. I figured that if I got there right away in the morning that I could get a quick limit weighing 10 to 12 pounds minimum. I pulled up slowly and there was a boat fishing the weedline that was just a short distance from my area. I pulled in close and made a couple of casts and just tried to wait patiently for the other boat to move on so I could position my boat just right to be able to give myself the best shot at making perfect casts to the area. After the other boat moved on I was able to get to where I could make long casts with a hand tied 1/2 Jewel Football jig. After a few casts I was able to catch a nice largemouth that was an easy 2.5 pounds. My next two casts and I reeled in another weighing 2 and the other going all of 3 pounds for sure. I threw a few more times without a bite and decided to give that area a rest and go hit another similar area only a minute away. My first cast in the new area resulted in another nice 3 pound largemouth. After a 15 minutes I headed back to my first spot and caught another nice largemouth about 2.5 pounds as well.

Within the first hour I had a solid limit weighing around 13 pounds. This was a great position to be in because it usually doesn't happen like that too often. It's not everyday you put a quality limit in your tanks in the first hour of the tourney. This gave me the opportunity to "hog hunt" the rest of the day. I quickly pulled out a 3/8 oz. and a 1/2 oz. Tru Tungsten Jig, and start working the deep weedlines for some good bass. I was able to catch a lot of 2 pounders but maybe only culling for an ounce here and there. Finally I hooked up with a nice 3 pound largemouth on the 1/2 oz. jig. Upping me to a estimated 14 pound bag.

As the afternoon wore on, I caught fish but none that would make a difference. Finally with only an hour left in the tournament I went straight for a nice deep weedline turn, soaked the jig and managed to catch two more 3 pounders, rounding out a nice bag for the weigh in. I finished with 15 pounds, just good enough for a third place finish. I was also fortunate enough to sneak pass Corey Brant in our Annual Gopher Bassmasters Ultimate Match Fishing Contest and now am in the final four competing against Sport Smith, which will take place in Grand Rapids, on Pokegama Lake, at our next club tourneys next month. Also with these two strong finishes I fought my way back up in the Gopher Bassmasters Angler of the Year standings, currently sitting in fourth. Setting me up for a run at club stick!

Next up for me is the third stop for the BASSMASTERS Weekend Series also at Pokegama Lake. I have a lot of ideas in my head, that I'm confident will help me to another great finnish. I'm currently sitting tied for first in the BASSMASTER Weekend Series Angler of the Year race and really want to continue that trend on. It's going to take a lot of hard work but I'm definitely up for the challenge! Wish me luck at Pokegama!!

Gopher B.A.S.S. Federation Club Tournament

Lake Minnetonka, Mound, MN

I was very excited to wake up this morning and head out to one of my favorite lakes, Minnetonka, for a Gopher Bassmasters Club Tournament. I spend a considerable amount of my time out here and definitely consider it my home lake. So I was pretty excited about my chance to catch a good limit. It's important that I do well in this weekend's two tournaments for a few different reasons. I'm pretty disappointed in some of my tournament finishes. I had two pretty solid tournaments and two very bad tournaments. Because of this, I find myself sitting in 8th place overall in the Angler of the Year standings. I also find myself on the bubble to make the 2009 Minnesota B.A.S.S. Federation State Tournament, held at Pokegama Lake, in Grand Rapids, MN. Today is also the start of the first round of our annual match fishing contest and I find myself matched against Frank Whiteside.

I drew boat number five and headed to a location that had some nice deep scattered rock. After about four or five casts I catch a solid 2.5 lb. largie on a hand tied 1/2 oz. Jewel Football Jig. In the next five casts I catch another two bass both weighing roughly two pounds each and managed to let a nice solid three pounder get off. After checking another spot similar to the first without any success, I decided to get out of there. I was slowly putting thru a long no wake area and when I got to the out side of it I turned back and pitched a 3/8 oz. Tru Tungsten Jig (Green Pumpkin/Brown) to the seawall and caught a little pound and a half smallie. After having a little success pitching to one corner I decided to to flip one to the opposite corner and instantly set into a good largemouth, only to have him throw the jig at the boat. Generally I would start getting pretty worried about loosing two good fish in the first hour but I knew this lake and knew it's potential and I knew the areas I was going to fish held both weight and numbers.

With the sun starting to warm things up I decided to hit a pretty good point that wasn't to much of a distance from me. I worked the whole point all the way around, switching between a 3/8 oz Tru Tungsten Jig, 1/2 oz. Tru Tungsten Jig, and a 1/2 oz. Jewl Football Jig. I was catching numbers but they were all in that solid two pound range. I knew the area had potential to cough up some real toads but decided to head out, but planned to hit it again on the way back to weigh in. Opting instead for a deep hump with a solid weedline, that has been good to me in the past for some solid three pounders. I was able to catch numbers of both largemouths and smallmouths, but at most maybe only doing two or three culls for a couple ounces. My boat partner for the day, John Atkins, hooked up with a nice 3 to 4 pounder and also filled a limit there.

We headed to a deep weedline that I have just lately been starting to figure out, but this time we couldn't get it going. I managed to catch a few more fish running the same type of pattern, targeting deep weedlines and rocks, but none of them culled any more than a couple ounces. Heading to the scales I was pretty happy given the day. I ran good water, worked my areas confidently, but just never got those big bites that I needed to win. I weighed in with 11.6 pounds and finished in 4th place. I managed to get past Frank in Ultimate Match Fishing and will be facing my boy Corey Brant (Core Dog), who is also leading so far this year in the Angler of the Year race. This fourth place finish also made up a little ground in the AOY standings. Tomorrow we will be launching from the other side of the lake for another tournament. Good Night!

BASSMASTER Weekend Series Tournament

Whitefish Chain, Cross Lake, MN

Tournament two of the BASSMASTER Weekend Series, held at the Whitefish Chain, in Cross lake, MN, is finally upon us. There was over a month gap between the first and second tournament and I was dying to get on the water and put it to the test against some of Minnesota's top bass fisherman.

I had went up and practiced for a couple days a few weekends back and have to say that I didn't have a great practice at all. A friend joined me and the fishing was good on Saturday for the morning and than we got stormed off, literally. We woke up Sunday morning to a less than ideal forecast of a cold front, with high skies and a cool north wind. We were able to find them Saturday morning all over the lake, shallow around docks and in the pads, and deeper along the maturing weedline. Sunday did produce some nice fish, but they were rather scattered and didn't really offer any set in stone pattern for game day. Looking back it was probably for the best considering that the lake was going to change pretty dramatically by the time I got back there. It made me keep in open mind.

The day before the tournament, Bri and I launched out of Hay Lake and headed right up into the main lake and began poking around on the weedlines. I did catch fish but none that were really good size. Although still the area had great potential. I then ran some of my shallow stuff where I found that it wasn't going to be that difficult to bag a limit but that size was the worry. I spent most the afternoon being careful to pull on fish and not actually hook them in their mouth, pretty much guaranteeing that the fish won't be willing to bite on tournament day. By the end of the day I was feeling a bit more comfortable. There were a lot of fish to be caught and I felt I was in the right areas to catch them. I even managed to visually see a couple 3+ pounders, and on Whitefish those are real good fish to have at the scales.

After take off I headed straight for a sandy flat that had a few good docks and a nice inside turn on a weedline. I started by swimming a 3/8 oz. Tru Tungsten Jig (Green Pumpkin/Brown) and on my third cast I boated a 14" inch largemouth and got the skunk out of the boat. That's when everything really started taking a turn for the worst. I set into about five or six real good fish and missed them all. Were talking like setting and half way to the boat they get off! Honestly I was getting pretty discouraged. Finally I came across a good looking boat dock and flipped a solid 2 pound largie into the boat. One cast later and I caught another one that just bumped the 12" minimum line. With a couple hours gone I decided to run to a bay on the South side of the lake where I had one magical boat dock that always seemed to produce for me. I worked the entire dock and on my last hail mary skip under the dock I caught a good solid three pound bass.

With only four fish in my livewell, I decided it was time to get on the weedlines and start catching some fish. Again after loosing a couple I finally boated my fifth keeper that literally bumped 12" on the dot with 1/2 oz. Tru Tungsten Jig (Black and Blue). I also tossed the topwater frog around for twenty minutes and didn't even manage a single blowup. Knowing that I needed some quality culls I decided to head back to the sand flat that I started on and try for some of those better fish that I had seen in practice and hope that I could get one or two of those earlier misses to bite again. It started slow and all of a sudden I hooked into a solid largemouth on a jig. I was out in about seven foot of water and blind casting in front of me not to spook the fish. The bass was landed and weighed approximately 4.5 pounds, a true Whitefish kicker! It's a great feeling to cull a little 12 inch bass for a solid 4 pounder. Next cast after dropping her in the livewell and I instantly get bit under a near by boat dock, resulting in another solid 2 pound bass.

With three hours remaining and an approaching storm starting to give way to rain, I headed to a great weedline that I knew had to hold good fish. The area was great. I was fishing a saddle in about 13 to 18 feet, that was surrounded by two underwater points that were loaded with coontail. The area produced well, I was able to cull a few times, nothing major but a ounce here and a ounce there. Time ran out and back at weigh in I managed to weigh in at 13.32 pounds and took another solid 6th place finish, good enough for another paycheck! I was second for big fish with 4.42 lbs. and lost to a nice 4.6 pounder that was weighed in just before me. Best yet my two strong finishes in the first two tournaments have me in a dead tie for first place in the Angler of the Year race. Pretty awesome but there's still three tournaments left, and it's going to be a tough test to manage to stay at the top. Next up we have Pokegama Lake, in Grand Rapids, MN. Last year in my first ever BASSMASTER Weekend Series event I took 18th at Pokegama. I have a few ideas going that I think can really put me on some good fish! Wish me luck!

Five Alive Tour

Green Lake, Isanti County, MN

Today was our second Five Alive event held at Green Lake, in Isanti County. Neither Ryan and I had time to prefish for this tournament and since neither one of us had ever fished the lake before we decided that we would just show up and fish. Today I also picked up my boat from the shop, which is a huge relief going into the BASSMASTER Weekend Series on the Whitefish Chain. I really was wanting my boat for that tournament.

At take off, Ryan and I headed straight for a row of docks. Never fishing this lake requires us both to power fish to be able to compete in a three hour tournament. After spending twenty minutes with no quality bites we headed for a slop area on a nice looking flat. I picked up a Scum Frog (black), while Ryan continued working boat docks with a 3/8 oz. hand tied Tru Tungsten Jig. One my first cast I missed on a nice blowup. After trying to get the fish to come back with no success, I spotted a great looking opening in the scum and fired my frog right into it. As kermit landed in the opening I noticed three or four different wakes from all around the bait, a tell tail sign of interested bass. I didn't twitch that frog but twice and I landed our first fish, a nice 2 pounder. Next cast rewarded me another one pushing three pounds, and the next cast another 2 pounder. Ryan dying to jump in the action ties up a Spro Frog (Black) and quickly puts another in the box. I make a couple more casts and limit us out with another 2 pounder.
We continued on this pattern and did find some similar areas. One area in particular did offer us a few nice bass that were able to cull out here and there for a couple ounces. With limited time left in the tournament we headed back to the area that coughed us up a quick limit. There we saw another tournament boat about 250 yards up bank. We snuck up into the mouth of the scum and started throwing frogs and I also tied up a Gambler Buzz Toad (black). We did catch a few but none big enough to cull. With only ten minutes left in the tournament we went back towards the launch and continued on throwing the frogs, again catching a few but none big enough to cull.

At weigh in we were approached by the tournament director, apparently that boat that watched us whack a bunch of fish in front of them claimed that Ryan wasn't wearing his safety vest when we pulled away with the big engine. Unfortunately for us, this was not the case. We argued our case as best we could, I never saw Ryan without his jacket and think the guys just made a mistake. A costly one for somebody else if your not positive. After going round and round, Ryan and I tactfully withdrew ourselves from the competition with no hard feelings, just an unfortunate situation. They great staff of the Five Alive Tour did allow us to weigh and we would have taken a solid third place finish. Not to bad for never being on the lake. Ryan and I aren't sure when we will be able to attend another Five Alive event. I know we have our eyes set on the last event of the year at Forest Lake. Hopefully we will find time to fish another before then.

Now it's back to business, I have a couple nice guide trips and then leave town for the second stop of the BASSMASTER Weekend Series, held at the Whitefish Chain, in Cross Lake, MN. I finished with a strong 6th place in the first event and am looking to do even better. Wish me luck!

Pan-O-Prag Bass Tournament

Lake Marion, Lakeville, MN

This was my first year participating in the annual Pan-O-Prag Bass Tournament, held on Lake Marion, in Lakeville, MN. Marion is a small lake located just South of the Twin Cities, right off 35W. Even though this lake gets a tremendous amount of both fishing pressure and recreation traffic, it still coughs up some big bags of fish every year. This was a team tournament and my partner was fellow Gopher Bassmaster, John Haynes.

I was able to get out and practice twice for this event. The first time John joined me and we did pretty good. Not a lot of fish, but the quality was there. I was catching them all on a 3/8 oz. Tru Tungsten Jig, tipped with a 2.75" YUM chunk. Most of them came shallow but they were all very scattered. Some came off docks, some off rocks, some in the weeds, and some weren't even by anything at all. Leaving after the first practice day we were a bit frustrated but happy at the same time. It was one of those practices that you wish was actually the tournament, because we caught a winning limit of bass, except we didn't really have a pattern for how we did it.

The second day of practice was a complete joke. It was the 4th of July and my Wife Bri was joining me. We arrived to a very long line that took over an hour to launch and then came to find that my engine wouldn't start. Frustrated, I decided to fish for a while with my trolling motor but after a half hour I figured it would be best to load up and drop my boat off at the shop to get fixed. Although I did manage to catch one fish that was just shy of four pounds on a 4" Bass Pro Shops Tube (Clear with Blake Flake), with a 1.8 oz. insert weight and a 4/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook..

At take off for the tournament, we drew an early let out and knew we would have a great shot at getting to some of the better areas that held some quality fish. We decided to hit a row of docks that had some nice vegetation around them and on my second flip, I caught a nice three pound largemouth. Being that this lake is not that big we were quickly surrounded by other boats and I decided to get out of there and go check another area before that was also tapped.
We got to our area and I instantly got bit, but when I set, there was nothing there. John lobbed his Lake Fork Ring Fry (Green Pumpkin) to the same area and instantly set the hook on what turned out to be another nice fish that went all of three pounds. A hundred yards down and I got bit again, and again added another three pounder to the livewell.

Knowing we were on to a great start, we decided to go back to the area where we first started and see if we can still get some bites. We arrived to see that there were still four boats working that area. I knew this would be an issue at this tournament. I usually don't like fishing in crowds, but I knew it was going to be this way so we decided to stay. Talk about calling the right shot. My first cast and I caught another nice three pound fish. I came across a nice looking boat dock and even though I watched two other boats fish it, I decided to give it a try anyway. After working the dock all the way around I decided to skip my jig up underneath the start of the dock, right where it meets the land. My first skip missed the mark by two feet, but I instantly got a peck from a couple bluegills. Looking closer I noticed the traditional honeycombs, meaning that there was a bunch of bluegills spawning. Wherever there are spawning bluegills, there are hungry bass close by. I skipped my jig again, this time perfectly under the dock and out came another three pounder. Good call Douglas!

Sitting with five nice three pounders in the livewell, we just needed one more for a limit. (Pan-O-Prag is a six fish limit) We went about an hour without catching anything and with the sun starting to come out and the wind picking up we decided to go throw a frog and flip some plastics back in the slop. We wasted about an hour and a half back there. I know that past tournaments have been won out of the slop on this lake, but I'm going to have to spend more time back there to figure out the real good areas. Although when we were on our way out, I had the trolling motor on 100 and made a desperation cast with a Scum Frog (Black) and caught our limit fish. Not even a two pounder, but it was a limit.

We went back out to the main lake and was met with some real strong winds. I did manage to catch a couple more but none big enough to cull. We headed back to the weigh in and ended up with 16.26 pounds, good enough for a strong 6th place finish! Pretty sweet! First time fishing this event with limited practice and walked away with another much needed paycheck. It goes to show, when in doubt, go with your strength. Good things will happen more often than not.

I would also like to thank my buddy Ryan Brant for letting me borrow his Ranger Commanche for this tournament while my boat is in the shop. I owe you big time!

Denny's Wednesday Nighter

Lake Minnetonka, Wayzata, MN

Tonight was the second tournament of the Denny's Wednesday Nighters, held on Lake Minnetonka. Ryan and I were real eager to launch and get this tournament under way. I still had a horrible taste in my mouth from that fat largemouth that got off at the boat, costing us a second place finish and $700 dollars at the last Wednesday Nighter two weeks ago.

Our launch number was 17 and we headed for one of our best spots and when we arrived there we both took note that there was no wind. After about 45 minutes of nothing, Ryan finally hooks up with a two pounder on a Lake Fork Creature Bait. With nothing going at all we headed out of there in search of some better bass. We arrived at a little point and I was able to catch a nice three pounder on a 6" Amp Lures Mimi (Green Pumpkin). After that fish though, the bite just wasn't there. We decided to run some pretty well known boat docks that usually hold some keeper bass. Ryan did manage to catch one small one that barely bumped, but still it was a keeper. Stumped, we decided to try a couple main lake milfoil points. I caught a couple but they were to short to keep. After about twenty minutes we shot back to our better areas and decided to go all or nothing with our last two hours.

After about an hour I finally got a nice bite and caught a bass going about 3.5 pounds, on a Texas rigged Lake Fork Ring Worm (Green Pumpkin), pegged with a 1/8 oz. Tru Tungsten Worm Weight (Green Pumpkin). Ryan also caught another one that was about 2 pounds, rounding out our limit.

With only about a half hour left, we decided to run some docks. Ryan caught a solid two pounder and culled away the twelve incher, then time ran out. We weighed in with a very disappointing 10 lbs. 2 oz., for 23rd place. There were some real big bags brought to the scales. I think you needed at least 17 pounds to cash a check.

Ryan and I find ourselves in a tough position. We're in the middle of the pack in the team of the year race and need to do real well in the remainder of the tournaments to get to the top spot. It will take some serious work but I feel we are still in close enough position to do just that.

Five Alive Tour

North & South Center Lakes, Lindstrom, MN

Lately things have been a little chaotic for me. I have a lot of tournaments coming up but luckily for me, most are team tournaments. I recently found out that I am going to be with out a boat for a couple weeks. What started as a small, unknown exhaust leak in the middle of my engine turned out to cause some pretty serious problems. I came to find out that I need a part that won't be able to be shipped out for about a week and a half due to the holiday week. Luckily, I am fishing with my boy Ryan Brant and we can use his Ranger today for the Five Alive Tour and also again tomorrow for the Denny's Wednesday Nighter. He also came through for myself and John Haynes for the Pan O' Prag tournament on Saturday on Lake Marion. Then again I lucked out and my buddy Chris Campbell is going to let me use his Ranger for a guide trip next week and for the real important BASSMASTER Weekend Series Tournament on the Whitefish Chain, in Cross Lake, MN. The nice thing is that Chris has the same boat as me, so it shouldn't be too bad of an adjustment.

After figuring out my boat situation, I was off to meet Ryan for the Five Alive event on North and South Center. I had seen it on their schedule and figured we should give it a try. Late last Fall, Ryan and I had really sacked them in a end of the year tournament, catching five bass for over 22 pounds! Although going into this tourney we were a little nervous. Sure we had done really well there but that was last year, it was very late September and we were just on a really good pattern. We didn't know the lake well, we won it our second time ever fishing on it. This year I have yet to fish it and knew I wasn't going to have time to pre fish for it. It really was looking bad when Ryan called me the night before and said he had got skunked earlier that night.

The tournament is only three hours long from 6 PM to 9 PM, which just means that we have to work very efficient and timely. We started on a set of docks that worked well last year and Ryan put a nice three pound fish in the livewell on a texas rigged Reaction Innovations Smallie Beaver. As he was retying, I caught one that went about 13 inches on a 3/8 oz. jig. We continued in the area and I caught a couple more smaller ones leaving us one shy of a limit. We headed to another good area and Ryan caught our fifth keeper, a nice two pound bass.

As we were getting ready to leave the area I made a cast with a swim jig and hooked into a 15" largemouth and we made our first cull. We got to our next destination and Ryan pitches his Beaver to a set of lily pads and hook into another good bass that weighed probably just shy of three pounds. Another pitch later and he hooks another good sack fish that was all of two pounds for sure.

As the night wore on the bite slowed dramatically. We must have went an hour without a fish and we decided to head back towards the loading ramp and fish out our last twenty minutes. Ryan again pitched to a set of pads and hooks into the biggest bass of the day going all of 3.5 pounds. Two minutes pass and I catch an easy three pounder on a Scum Frog. Then with only three minutes to go, Ryan picks up my 1/2 oz. Amp Lures Killa Buzz (Black), and starts tossing it along a weedline and manages to catch another keeper, this one only culling out for maybe and ounce or two.

At the weigh in we won the tournament, with 13.05 pounds. We took home a much needed paycheck and also decided we were going to try our hand again next week when the Five Alive Tour heads to Green Lake in Wyanett, MN. Up next tomorrow is the second tournament of the Denny's Wednesday Nighters, held on Lake Minnetonka. I can't wait!!

Denny's Wednesday Nighter

Lake Minnetonka, Wayzata, MN

Today started the first tournament of the Denny's Wednesday Nighters, held on the one and only, Lake Minnetonka. Also referred to as "Tonka", this lake is known for it's trophy largemouth bass and also has a few nice, but elusive schools of smallmouth bass. These are team format style tournaments and my partner for these series is my good friend Ryan Brant.

Going into this tournament we were very excited because we have really been getting dialed into the fishery and have some really good areas that have been holding both quality and quantity. We were real stoked when we drew boat number five and were pretty sure we could get to our areas without much competition. At take off we headed to a spot that has been holding some real nice fish and expected to put together a quick limit with a few nice ones and put ourselves into position to hog hunt the rest of the evening. Since these tournaments are only 4 1/2 hours long, time management is extremely important. As we pulled up Ryan was first to add a nice 3.5 pound largemouth to the livewell. I believe she was suckered on a homemade football jig. As time quickly started to pass, I was able to boat one that only went about 14 inches but still another keeper. We both missed a bunch of bites and just couldn't get anymore bass to commit to our offerings so we opted to head out and start running some water. We arrived at an outside weedline that I had done so well on in practice and I started cranking the weedline with a Storm Wiggle Wart (Red Craw) with no success at all. Again we left disappointed. With a couple hours gone and a pathetic situation going on in the livewell, we decided to run some boat docks and try to scrap our way to a limit. Ryan quickly adds a two pounder into the well and I quickly follow. We decided to continue on and get our fifth keeper. A little way down and I set into a nice largemouth that was about 3.5 lbs, but it threw my bait at the boat. That was rough, but fortunately for me I was able to semi make up for it by boating our fifth keeper that went about 2 pounds.

We only had about an hour and a half to go and Ryan suggested a nice point not far from the row of docks that we were fishing. We pulled up and I quickly caught a good three pounder on a modified carolina rig. The next 3 out of 5 casts I was able to boat a fish, culling nicely two more times.

With about 45 minutes to go, and sitting with roughly 13 pounds, we decided to hit up my money spot in hopes of a nice kicker. We arrived and instantly we both missed a nice strike. With about twenty minutes left I got a nice bite and set into a great fish. I instantly yelled to Ryan for the net knowing this was the fish that would place us in the top three for sure and maybe even a chance at the top spot. The fish quickly surged to the top showing off her big ole' belly, an easy 4 to 5 pound fish. After the initial leap, she surged back to the bottom as I played her to the boat. Ryan was eagerly waiting with the net as it started floating up from under the boat as if it was giving up the fight. Just as I was inches away from having her in netting position, she decided it was not over and again leaped from the water and shot straight back down just missing the net and that was it, the hook popped free from her mouth and left us with nothing but to watch her quickly swim out of sight. I swear to God I almost puked. After a few choice words and a toss of the fishing pole, we tried everything to get back on track and focus on trying to actually catch, not hook, but catch another one. We both did, but neither big enough to cull and time ran out. At weigh in we weighed 5 for 13.13 lbs. and finished in 12th place, three positions out of the money. The worst part was that we would have had second place easily had we boated that bass and would have won $700 dollars. Thats the bad news, but on the good side, we had a solid finish and are in good position for the team of the year race. The top two teams at the end of the season join the top eight from the Denny's Super 30, and all ten teams compete for a first place prize of $10,000.

I've had my share of fish get off in a tournament but never in the last minutes and never that would have been that big of a deal breaker. I suppose I better get used to it because when I make it to the level that I am desperately trying to get to, I see those guys do it and instead of loosing a $700 dollar fish, they loose a $250,000 dollar fish. I couldn't imagine.

Another good thing that came from this tournament was that we now have even more confidence that we're on the right kind of fish to put ourselves in position of winning some good money. This weekend I will be heading up to the Whitefish Chain, in Cross Lake to start preparing for the next BASSMASTER Weekend Series event and than will be coming right home to celebrate my 28th birthday on June 30th, and than will start preparing for the Pan O' Prag tournament on Lake Marion. Happy Bday to me!

Gopher B.A.S.S. Federation Club Tournament

Green Lake, Spicer, MN

Every fisherman has a bad outing on occasion and finds themselves saying "the fish just weren't biting today". I have never agreed with that way of thinking. In actuality, the fish are always biting somewhere on the lake. The likelihood is that the fisherman didn't have them patterned correctly by making mistakes to seasonal patterns, presentation, location, the list goes on and on. So really 90% of the time it isn't the fish weren't biting, it's the fisherman wasn't catching.
I'll get to my point later. This tournament was held on Green Lake, in Spicer, MN. A trophy smallmouth fishery, that also has a ok population of largemouth bass. The lake is a clear, deep, and rocky lake. I had practiced the week before and managed to do pretty well. I caught a bunch of descent sized largemouth and even stuck a four and a half pound smallie. I spent most of the time checking out the lake and putting together a game plan. My pre tournament strategy was that the majority of the largemouth had already spawned and that the smallmouth were in the spawn. Meaning that sight fishing and shallow water was going to claim the biggest bags. I decided right away that I should concentrate all my efforts in the tournament on smallmouths because it is highly unlikely to do well with a bag of largemouths on this body of water.

The club format is that you are paired with another member of the club and split time on the trolling motor. It's not a team event, your actually competing against each other, but still bounce ideas off one another to give both a good shot at a nice limit. My game plan was to search out the rock flats, in 5 to 10 feet of water, for smallmouths. I had one area in practice that held a nice weed clump that I figured I could possibly get some nice post spawners from. I knew the lake had being getting a ton of tournament pressure and it was getting a little late into the spawning season for the to still be on beds. So just in case I had some back up areas to fish.
At take off my partner John informed me of some nice post spawn smallies in the three to four pound range that he was on just days before the tournament. The weather was great except we were expecting 20 to 30 m.p.h. winds, so we decided to hit his area first. Arriving at his spot I have to say it looked great. It was a nice weedy shelf in about ten feet of water and was surrounded by deep water. It also had some mixed rock piles along the edge. I started throwing a Amp Lures Pop topwater bait, but quickly decided it was already to windy for it to be effective, so I switched to a 5/16 oz. hand tied Jewel Jig (Brown) and started tossing it to the weedline. On my second cast my rod buckled and I knew I had a good fish on. The smallmouth surfaced, danced, and threw my jig! I couldn't believe it! Your not supposed to loose a fish like that on a jig!

The worst thing about it was that smallie was well over four pounds! That hurt. I was pretty worked up about that but found some excitement in the spot we were on. After spending another half hour or so in the area we decided to give it a rest figuring that fish may have spooked the school, and go run some of my water. We pulled up to a nice rock flat and only spent ten minutes there. No excuses but that damn fish was still in my head so I said we should go try my deeper weeds and try for some post spawners. We arrived to the weedline and I caught a couple quick largemouths but they were to small to keep and John hooks into a nice three pound smallie. That did it. That convinced me that the fish were in the post spawn. So we abondoned the area and spent the rest of the day fishing deeper water, that held nice weed clumps, in search of a good bag.

Arriving back to the area where I lost that good smallie, John starts catching them right away. A few small largemouths, but still keepers, and another good smallmouth. I caught a couple two pound largies as well. We continued to work similar areas and next thing you know it was time to head to the weigh in. I weighed in at four fish for 6.0 pounds and John had four weighing 6.7 pounds. I finished in 12th place, my worst performance in a club tournament to date. My good buddies Ryan Brant and Rich Lindgren took first and second respectively, fishing wouldn't you know it, rock flats for spawning smallmouths. Needless to say it was a long drive home for me. I understand that I will have bad tournaments, sometimes you just never got on them, but to be on them and make horrible game time decisions is a hard one to swallow. So back to my earlier statement. On the way to the weigh in I remember saying to myself "they just weren't biting, they must be in a post spawn funk", instead the truth to the matter is they were indeed biting, I just wasn't catching.

Mid way thru the season and I find myself in eighth place in the Angler of the Year standings. The good news is this tournament will serve as excellent motivation to do real well in the last four events and make a run at club stick. I have a lot of confidence in the bodies of water that we will be fishing, Lake Minnetonka and Lake Pokegama. Both lakes are capable of coughing up 17 to 20 pound bags. I have every intent at trying to do just that! There are so many skilled fisherman in the Gopher Bassmasters that it takes excellent fishing to be at the top. Now my plan is to put this one behind me and concentrate on the next.

This weekend I am heading up to the Whitefish Chain, in Cross Lake, MN, to do some prefishing for a BASSMASTER Weekend Series event held there in a few weekends from now. I had a nice start in the first event at the Le Homme Dieu Chain, where I walked away with a sixth place finish. I have been doing a lot of studying to prepare so I give myself every opportunity at having a great finish. Wish me luck!

Gopher B.A.S.S. Federation Club Tournament

Lake Koronis, Paynesville, MN

Today was the third tournament of the year held at Lake Koronis, in Paynesville, MN. Koronis has an excellent population of both largemouth and smallmouth bass. After take off I headed straight for some main lake islands that I knew was the best bet for some nice smallmouth bass. I started with an Amp Lures Pop and switched back and forth with a Reaction Innovations Barely Legal Vixen, neither producing. After figuring that the topwater just wasn't going to work for me, I quickly switched to a hand tied 5/16 oz. Jewel Jig (Brown) with a 2.75" Guide Series Chunk (Purple). I threw that along the deep side of a rock spine and quickly caught a 14" largemouth and a couple largies that wouldn't bump 12". With one fish in the livewell I continued down the spine and hooked with with a nice 3.5 lb. smallmouth on the same jig.

After spending another thirty minutes around the rocks with no fish I decided to switch it up completely and headed for some nice looking slop areas. After about an hour of slop fishing I was just about ready to head back out to the main lake when I bass exploded on my Scum Frog (Black), missing it all together. Being in this situation many times I didn't panic. I simply waited for the ripples to stop and twitched the bait once or twice and that was all it took. The bass came back and smacked it adding about three pounds to my total weight.

I headed back out to the main lake and decided to run some boat docks that were productive during practice. They were very productive except they only produced dinks, but none the less they helped me fill my limit. Looking back, I probably spent to much time on the docks. I think it was a good call to hit them up to fill a quick limit but I probably spent two to three hours on them hoping I would hook up with one big un. I should have made a better decision when I caught a nice smallie around the rocks and a nice largemouth in the back slop areas. Instead of trying to make something happen, I should have let the lake dictate where and how to catch a better bag. With that said I finally headed back to the rock in search of another football shaped smallmouth. I switched to a YUM 3" Tube (Green Pumpkin) and quickly hooked into another good sized smallie. Being that I forgot my landing net in the truck, I lost that fish right at the boat trying to hand land him. Bummer. Lesson learned. When fishing for smallmouth bass in particular, DON"T FORGET THE NET! They will never give up fighting.

I continued to catch smallie's one after another mostly to small to cull. I was able to cull one and probably gained a few ounces on the deal. I also broke off another nice one, but that's part of the game when your rocking with 8 lb. fluorocarbon around a bunch of sharp rocks. With about twenty minutes to go, I headed back to the slop and again started flinging my frog across the pads. With literally three minutes to go I hooked into another bass just shy of three pounds. I weighed in at 12.3 lbs. with a .3 dead fish penalty, which was good enough for a solid fifth place finish. Looking back I was happy with the way I fished considering I only prefished the lake for about an hour and a half. My only regret was that I wished I had studied a map a little harder and that I would have got of the boat docks after filling a limit on them.

No time to think about what if's though. I have another tournament the next day on Green Lake, in Spicer, MN. A trophy smallmouth lake! I can't wait!

Tackle Update: Shimano Steps Up Again!

Anyone who knows me is well aware that when it comes to reels there is only one brand in my opinion, Shimano. I have a great assortment of these reels both oldies and newbies. I am very excited to inform you all that Shimano has redeveloped the very popular Curado line of reels. The Curado has long been one of my absolute favorite reels on the market. Their excellent craftsmanship paired with their very fair price makes them an excellent option for any angler.

I still own multiple Curado BSF and Curado D reels that I can't get myself to upgrade, but I have to admit the new Curado E looks like the best yet! Weighing more than 2 ounces less than the Curado D and sporting a more compact design similar to the Curado 100 and the Chronarch 100. The best part of it is they are actually set to be twenty dollars less than the older version. Look for the discontinued Curado D to be on sale at stores near you. Here is a review from Tackle Tour, click here.


**From left to right: The new mean green Shimano Curado E and the E21 Boyd Duckett Series Carrot Stix

Also new to my arsenal is the new E21 Boyd Duckett Series Carrot Stix. Almost all of my rods are made by G Loomis and I have to admit I was very skeptical when the Carrot was first released. However after trying one out for only a half an hour I found myself ordering one days later. I opted for the 7'2" MH casting version and paired it with the Shimano Chronarch 50mg. I have never held a lighter combo in my life. Don't let the weight fool you either, the set up has zero problem yanking that 4 pound largemouth out from under a boat dock. Click here for more information from E21.

So Many Tournaments, So Little Time

I have been real busy lately to say the least. Between guide trips, preparing for tournaments, and tourneys themselves, I have spent some serious time out on the water. The good thing is, there's no other place I'd rather be, with the exception of course, of spending some quality time with the love of my life, my wife Bri. With the weather getting better and better, or should I say with the tanning season coming around, I get the privilege of her joining me more and more for a day of prefishing. I have to be honest, it's not all tanning, she's really becoming a pretty good fisherwoman.

Lately I have been up to Koronis and Green Lake preparing for a couple club tournaments that I have. Both lakes harbor smallmouth and largemouth bass, with Green Lake being a championship smallmouth venue. The wind was really rough when I was on Green, but I still managed to catch fish, one of which was a nice four pound smallmouth. I also had a pretty good practice at Koronis. I caught lots of fish, but size was an issue. Although I have a pretty good idea where I can get into them on game day.

I also took part in the Gopher Bassmasters Junior tournament on Lake O'Dowd, in Shakopee, MN. I drew Zach as my partner and we had a fun day. We missed a lot of fish but still had a respectable day besides. After the tournament, I went back out on the lake to work on some summer patterns, preparing myself for some upcoming tournaments that I know could potentially have me doing some heavy vegetation fishing. I found some nice clumps of a certain vegetation (which will remain un named for the fisheries sake) and started flipping a pegged 3/4 oz. Tru Tungsten Flippin' Weight, with a 5/0 Reaction Innovations BMF Hook, and texas rigged a YUM Big Show Craw (Black and Blue). It did not take very long and I was lipping a near six pound largemouth. Man does it get any better than that? That is what I live for. I also was able to catch a 4, a couple 3's, and a handful of 2's, duplicating the same pattern. Heavy flippin' is a style that I really enjoy fishing. It seems that I catch BIGGER fish when employing that technique. This is something you will hear a lot more from me as the year goes by.

**From left to right: Myself and a Tanker Green Lake Smallmouth, and Myself with a near six pound Twin Cities Largemouth

This weekend I will be in the Willmar area fishing two tournaments with the Gopher Bassmasters on Lake Koronis and than Green Lake. I would like to do real well in these events because next month we will be fishing Lake Minnetonka and that is a lake I have a lot of confidence on. After that I will be heading right up to the Whitefish Chain to start practicing for an upcoming BASSMASTER Weekend Series event. After taking a respectable 6th place on the first event on Le Homme Dieu, I am going to be putting in as much practice and research as I can, to make sure I do real well on the Whitefish Chain.

Also recently I did a Pod Cast interview for Bass Fishing in the Midwest, which can be heard on either Bass Fishing in the Midwest, or on iTunes. The subject in which I was interviewed was on practice and pre tournament strategy. Be sure to check it out and leave any feed back for me at Josh@JoshDouglasFishing.com.

Until next time, Tight Lines!

BASSMASTER Weekend Series Tournament

Le Homme Dieu Chain, Alexandria, MN

Today was the Start of the BASSMASTER Weekend Series, put on by B.A.S.S. and ABA. This is the first of five events with a guaranteed five grand payout for first. I was also able to get out and practice yesterday and had some success despite the massive storm front that rolled in. According to the Weather Channel we had some gust blow over 40 mph. Despite the wind and rain, my pattern that I had developed last weekend during practice was still holding up strong. I usually try not to actually hook the fish in practice especially the day before the tournament, however, I do a couple just to verify that one they're bass and two, check their size. My first bite of the morning hailed a five and a half pound largemouth. Cool but not so cool at the same time. It was nice to see that I was on some tankers but was hard accepting that it was only practice and not the tourney itself. What do you do?

I drew boat number 18 for takeoff and was third in the second flight. I headed straight to one of my best stretch of banks and instantly started going to work throwing a 3/8 oz. Amp Lures Musashi spinnerbait (Sweetfish). I quickly caught a 12" squeaker that got the skunk out of the boat. It wasn't the size I was looking for but none the less, it was a start. About a half hour later and a little further down the stretch I caught a pretty nice fish that was between 2.5 and 3 pounds. This fish was a nice Le Homme Dieu keeper but I noticed it was bleeding pretty good from the gill. I decided to keep the bass even though I was worried about it dying on me. A dead fish penalty carries a .25 lb. penalty on your total weight and it's against tournament law to release a dead fish. An hour later I caught another 12 inch keeper and when I put in it the livewell I noticed the injured fish was floating, still alive but in real rough shape. I instantly added Rejuvenade to the livewell water in hopes to give the bass the kick it needed to live. Not to jump ahead but that fish was by far the most liveliest bass at weigh in. I knew for sometime that Rejuvenade was a good product, but good is an understatement. It's great! Any tournament angler should have a bottle in their boat. Not only did it save me a couple ounces at weigh in but more importantly it benefits the health of our fish. With how much we enjoy the sport of tournament fishing we owe it to the fish to make sure to take good care of them.

Back to the tournament, I was able to put together a limit rather quickly in the morning. I was moving water throwing an Amp Lures Midshooter crankbait (bluegill) and a Amp Lures Musashi Spinnerbait (sweetfish), and then would target isolated cover with a jig, a 3/8 oz jig for semi deeper water and a 1/4 oz. for the real shallow clean areas. I was convinced going into today that the bass would hold of on the first deep ledge and then as the afternoon approached they would move up shallow. I had the game plan of following this pattern and relying on the bite to get better as the afternoon wore on. At one point I came across a boat dock and I could see 6 or 7 bass holding underneath it. Most weren't even 10 inches but I kept getting glimpses of a pretty nice fish. After taking a few shots under the dock I managed to catch a couple but they weren't big enough to cull. I decide to come around the dock and pitch my jig from the backside. I watched as two juvenile bass fought for my jig and purposely didn't set the hook. Suddenly I saw the three pounder fly in and snatch the bait away from the other two. This proved to be effective as I was able to cull out a one pounder for a three. As I was pulling away from the dock I spotted another three pound bass cruise from deep water straight under that same dock. I instantly turned the boat around and skipped back under the dock and instantly set, culling away another little twelve incher. Now I knew I was in pretty good shape although I still had a 13" bass in the well. An hour later and I was able to set the little guy free and replace him with one that was about 2 lbs. Not huge but could prove to be critical.

At weigh in I brought 12.36 lbs. to the scales that ended up good enough for a solid 6th place finish. I was one big fish away from a top three but I just never really got that big bite when I really needed it. Which just made that five pounder from practice a little harder pill to swallow. That aside I was very content with my finish. I walked away with a pretty nice paycheck, sitting in great shape for the divisional tournament on Kentucky Lake, in Tennessee, and gave myself a boat load of confidence. No pun intended. This confidence is going to be very important on assuring I do well in the next four events.

Well from here my schedule only gets more hectic. I have a an all day guide trip tomorrow and then will be going directly from that to meeting my buddy Ryan Brant for some evening practice on Lake Minnetonka to prepare for the Denny's Wednesday Night Shootout. This weekend I will be heading out to Green Lake in Spicer, MN, preparing for an upcoming tournament and then will be coming back to do a Gopher Bassmasters youth team tournament in Shakopee, MN. As I said, hectic but fun doesn't even begin to describe it!

BASSMASTER Weekend Series - Le Homme Dieu Chain Practice

I made it up to the Le Homme Dieu Chain in Alexandria, MN. Being that I had never fished this chain before, I put in a lot of extra preparation and research. I knew who and what weights had won in past years. I knew this chain was notorious for its massive weedlines and clear water. I also did some serious map work to better acquaint myself with this body of water. I obviously take my tournaments very seriously but these BASSMASTER Weekend Series tournaments I take especially serious. Besides the guaranteed five grand their giving out for first place, there's also the fact that I can qualify for regionals on Kentucky Lake, TN. Doing well at the regional tournament can put you into contention for the BASSMASTERS Classic or maybe even the Elite Series. Also Tennessee is where my wife Bri and I want to soon move. Tennessee is a beautiful area and better yet it's smack dab in the heart of bass fishing. I love tournament fishing and guiding. Here I'm restricted to six months fishing and six months of ice covered hog heavens. Also being that I plan to start fishing more tournaments at the national level, it will put us in a more central location. And in addition, on the record, Bri and I hate winter! So doing well at the first event of the series is on high priority for me.

Arriving at Le Homme Dieu I decided to launch on the North end of Lake Carlos and instantly starting moving water with a 3/8 oz. Amp Lures Musashi Spinnerbait (Sweetfish). I was targeting some wind blown reeds and was catching fish left and right but none of substantial size. This chain is known for its numbers of bass but lacks a little on the size. Not that there isn't any brutes but they're a little harder to track down. I also caught a couple in between boat docks in about 3 feet of water on a 5" Basstrix Paddle Tail Tube (Chartreuse Blue), rigged with a 5/0 Gamakatsu 1/8 oz weighted wide gap hook. I expected the bite on these swimbaits to be a massive explosion but was surprised to find it kind of like a worm bite. I would be reeling in slow and suddenly feel a slight "tick" in the line and the hook set was awesome. I searched out some other areas and found fish that didn't carry much weight and I missed a couple around boat docks with a 3/8 oz. Ten K Jig (green pumpkin). I noticed that because of our extremely late Spring this year the weedline hasn't had the weather to really bloom. I tried fishing some of the areas that looked good on the map but only caught small ones and really felt that the weedline may actually not be the ticket this year. I noticed the water temp was in the mid 60's but remembered when I was doing some internet research a day or two before that the lake was only in the very high 50's then. So I figured that the majority of the fish were still well in the pre spawn pattern. Knowing that since the water was very clear the shallower water would warm the quickest and decided to head there. I threw a lot of baits but caught some quality fish under boat docks and tree laydowns on the jig. They were few and far between but at the end of the day my best five would have weighed over 17 lbs. Looking back as far as I could only a handful of people have needed more than that to win a tournament here. This was by no means tournament conditions but it definitely gave me some confidence to build on.

Since I'm on this topic, last week I did a Pod Cast interview on tournament preparation and practice for Bass Fishing in the Midwest and it should be airing soon. I will post links to it as soon as it is available. Check back soon!

Minnesota Bass Opener - Big Bag Challenge

Minnesota Bass Opener 20+ Challenge, MN Opening Weekend Celebration Challenge, Minnesota Opener Big Bass Challenge, these were just some of the many names that buddy Rich Lindgren and I came up with for the prestigious title to our day on the water. Being that we are both very competitive tournament anglers, it was only necessary for us to come up with some sort of challenge. We decided that instead of making it a head to head competition that we would take on Mother Nature as a team. The challenge was a testy one at that. We set a very lofty goal of our top five bass for a total weight of 20 lbs. We set our sight at a small South metro lake that has a reputation of coughing up some real lunkers.

We arrived at the boat ramp at about 8 a.m. and decided to run some shallow water. Being that it has been a very cold Spring we figured the bass would be in a nice pre spawn mode or possibly even sitting on beds. This posed a nice challenge because living in Minnesota we both don't get to many opportunities to practice catching fish on beds. Usually the spawn is pretty much wrapped up by the time bass opener comes around. After a few casts of a spinnerbait with no success I switched to a weightless texas rigged 4" Bass Pro Shops Tube (Clear), and and started pitching it to any open spots between the thick vegetation. We came across a bed that was sitting behind a boulder. I quickly skipped my tube to the bed and instantly got bit. Unfortunately on the hook set my fluorocarbon leader snapped right at the knot. I decided that I was going to try to use a different set up for the day. Almost always I would throw a weightless tube on a casting outfit, especially when around vegetation, but I thought I would try something new. I see a lot of guys do this and thought maybe I should see for myself what, if any, the benefit was. So far, I see none. Rich spotted the fish that broke my line and commented on how big it was. As I retied my line, Rich took a couple cracks at it with no success. We decided to fish on and come back later in the day. We were on a time crunch and were only giving ourselves 6 hours to boat 20 pounds. No time to mess around on a 4 pounder with a sore lip.

We continued to move water, staying very shallow. We saw a lot of nice bass cruising but quickly found out that if we saw the fish it was to late to catch them. They were very skiddish. We came to a tiny inlet and Rich quickly boated another keeper that went about 2 lbs. Nice fish but not what we needed to fulfill our task at hand. Just after he threw the fish in the livewell he set on a real nice fish, only to loose her at the boat. We definitely were making this hard on ourselves. We knew we were on the right pattern to boat some big ones, but were not going to get there fishing the way we were.

As we continued on, we quickly put together a limit of fish weighing about 9 pounds. Rich was catching his on a 4" Lake Fork Tackle Ring Fry (Green Pumpkin) and I was getting mine on the same Bass Pro Shops Tube. I cast my tube to a nice laydown and as I was quickly reeling in to make another cast a big bass exploded on the bait, missing all together. Rich seeing this quickly pitched the Ring Fry to the ripples and next thing you know has a nice 4 pound fish! Now things are starting to look up. That was perfect team work and we were going to need that kind of action to push the scales past 20. Shortly after that I caught a nice one out of the lily pads that went about 3 pounds. The pads lead to a nice point that met up with all sorts of different vegetation like milfoil, cabbage, pads, and scum. My experience tells me that these types of places hold nice numbers of fish. The good thing was I was right on, the bad thing was I hooked and lost four nice fish in a row. Needless to say this ended my spinning rod extravaganza! I think that the spinning rod is a good bet in open water or rocky areas, but it just proved to not have the muscle in the weeds. I switched to a G Loomis 7' MH IMX casting rod, paired with a Shimano Curado BSF reel, and 15 pound Seaguar Fluorocarbon Line. I also made the change to a texas rigged Lake Fork Ring Fry (Green Pumpkin) and added a Tru Tungsten Force Bead (Black) for just a little added weight. First cast with the new set up and I added another nice 3 pounder to the livewell. You live to learn!

With only a couple hours to go we were sitting pretty good. We had roughly 5 fish for 14 pounds. We continued to catch fish, culling maybe an ounce here and there and then Rich catches a good 'un that was roughly 5 pounds. She was definitely all spawned out but had the mouth of a six pound fish. That was a good cull. Now we were sitting at roughly 17 pounds and were itching to blast a big one and exceed our mark. Further down the stretch and I boated another three pounder to cull away our last two pound fish. Sitting with roughly 18 pounds we decided to hit the main lake and throw some bigger baits for a giant. I started throwing a Basstrix Paddle Tail Tube (Yellow Perch) and a Sumo Frog (Black). Rich busted out a Tru Tungsten Swimbait (Bluegill) and a Ima Shakr Crankbait (Matte Bluegill). To be honest the first 20 minutes were spent admiring the action of the TT Swimbait. It's AWESOME! It even does a 180 when stopped. After we finally got back on track Rich caught a couple on the Ima and I caught one on the Sumo Frog. No takers on the swimbaits. Our total weight was 18.4 pounds. Not a bad sack at all. We were on BIG bite away from hitting that huge goal.


**From left to right: Myself and Rich with some of our bigger ones

So far this year has been a great one. I have been doing a lot of fishing preparing for upcoming tournaments and have also been staying busy guiding. I will be spending all this weekend practicing for the upcoming Weekend Series tournament held at the Le Homme Dieu Chain of Lakes in Alexandria, MN. I will give a full report of my practice and tournament results as soon as I get back. Here are some pictures showing off some of the giants starting out an already awesome season. If interested in going out on a fully guided bass trip please feel free to contact me aJosh@JoshDouglasFishing.com.

Mobile Marine Pros "Servicing All Your Boating Needs"

As you may have read on an earlier post I had an unfortunate run in with a wing dam on the Mississippi River earlier in the month fishing the St. Jude Bass Classic. It was obvious the prop was shot and that I had a pretty nice chunk of the fiberglass missing from the back, and not to mention a broken skag. What I wasn't sure about was whether my prop shaft was bent. If it was that would lead to a whole lot more repairs that I was hoping I wouldn't have to open the wallet for. I was put in contact with Joe from Mobile Marine Pros. I was able to schedule an appointment for the SAME DAY and best of all he came to my house to inspect the boat. With the price of gas these days it is real nice to not have to load up the boat and haul it to some shop just to have to leave it there until whenever they can find time to get to it. I can not be with out my boat during the season and the guys at Mobile Marine Pros definitely understand that. After inspection it turned out my prop shaft was perfectly fine and we scheduled an appointment to have the fiberglass patched up.

I was so impressed with the convenience, affordability and quality of service that I thought I would share their information:

Mobile Marine Pros

Gopher B.A.S.S. Federation Club Tournament

Deer Lake, St. Croix Falls, WI

Ahh....Good ol' Deer Lake. Let's just say that I had zero confidence going into this tournament. I had prefished this lake twice and had really no problem catching fish, the problem was catching one that was over 14 inches. As I stated earlier, Wisconsin state law says that a bass must be 14" minimum to keep or in our case even put in the livewell. Trust me, admitting over the internet that in two practice days (eight hours total between the two days) that I couldn't catch a bass over 14" is self degrading on it's own, but I'll let the truth be known.

When John Haynes and I went out to practice we were met with a real bad cold front and lots of wind. We were able to locate small fish on some pretty nice weedy shallow flats. It's obvious that the bigger fish are going to spawn there, but it's just a matter of when. We also spent some time fishing deep points and humps with no success. The one good thing was that 5 minutes before I had to load up my boat on the second practice day, I hooked what seemed to be a real nice fish. I was in about ten foot of water on a nice drop that went from that shallow flat to deeper water. I was using a texas rigged 6" Amp Lures Mimi straight tail hand poured worm (Green Pumpkin), with a 1/16 oz Tru Tungsten sinker pegged about 16" up the line. Unfortunately for me after a pretty nice fight the fish got off. The one good thing though is it was minimum 3.5 pounds. That gave me just a little confidence for the tournament. I figured that I was in the right area and that the bigger fish were staging on those drops in front of the spawning flat. With the weather forecasting 70 degree days and 55 degree nights I figured at worst they would still be staged there or even better that they would have moved up onto the shallow flats and would be putting on their feed bags.

Well wouldn't you know that at tournament time we were met with another post front, high skies, cold temps and a nice stiff wind. I still figured the bass would be on that drop and right away we headed to that location. After about an hour with no bites we moved up onto the flat and I caught a couple small ones again under the 14" mark. After wasting nothing but time we decided to go try our luck on the other side of the lake. During practice we had found this certain bay to be very productive with the little fish and figured we should be able to at least stick a couple 14 inchers. I mean come on a 14" bass isn't that big. It isn't like I'm asking for a five pounder or anything! We arrived in our bay and found that there were numerous other bass boats from the tourney fishing in there. We decided to give it a try anyway. Wouldn't you know, again we had no problem catching fish but what does a guy have to do to get it over 14"? I was catching them like crazy on a texas rigged Reaction Innovations 4" Flirt with a pegged 1/16 oz. Tru Tungsten sinker.

With only a 4 hours to go in the tournament I decided to go hit some docks. We pulled into a nice stretch close to where I had lost that bigger one during practice. I figured with the sun getting brighter later in the day the bass would hold under the docks. On the very first dock I had a nice bite and missed. Second dock, same thing. Then on the third dock, I had a great bite, set the hook into what finally felt like a real nice fish, she bullnosed, wrapped me around the dock post and was gone. That hurt. We fished out the rest of the docks on that stretch with no success. The only good thing that came from that was the fact that we found fish and they could be caught under boat docks. We decided to go into a real small bay that had a few nice pontoon boats and was loaded with docks. On the very first dock I finally caught a nice one on a 1/4 oz. Tru Tungsten Jig (Watermelon) with a 2.75" Gander Mountain Chunk (Green Pumpkin). I headed down to the next dock and pitched the jig all around the dock. A few pitches and I got another nice bite, I set the hook hard and my 20 lb. Fluorocarbon snapped inside my reel. Are you serious! That has happened to me only a few times in my life and now it happens during the last hour of a tournament. I guess that is just the way the day was going to go.

At the end of the day I found myself weighing in one fish for 2.5 pounds. Oddly enough still good enough for a ninth place finish out of 22 boats. I guess it was a tough bite for everyone, 16 people either caught one fish or blanked completely. Ryan Brant won the tournament with four fish and a total weight of 9 pounds. On the ride home I couldn't help but think of what could have been had I landed a few of those nicer fish. The fact that I didn't fish well at all mixed with a tough bite and I guess I ended up right where I should be. I have some real big tournaments coming up, one of which is the BASSMASTER Weekend Series on the Le Homme Dieu chain of lakes. I plan on using this as motivation to do real well there and the rest of the season. From here on out it's fishing, fishing, fishing! I have a lot of homework to do to prepare myself for the upcoming season and one thing I know for certain is you can't expect to do well if you don't give the effort. There will always be bad days on the water, but with the right frame of mind, I can definitely out number my bad days with good ones!

Gopher B.A.S.S. Federation Club Tournament

Bone Lake, Luck, WI

Today was the first tournament of the 2008 Gopher Bassmaster B.A.S.S. Federation season. Our first tournament was held on Bone Lake in Luck, WI. Bone is known for it's excellent muskie fishing but also has a very good bass population as well. I had prefished this lake on Wednesday with new Gopher member Matt and we did pretty well. I had found an area that was holding some nice fish around the three pound range holding up under boat docks. I was pitching a 3/8 oz Tru Tungsten Jig (Green Pumpkin Brown), with a 2.75" Yum Chunk (Green Pumpkin) into all the small areas within the dock. After setting on a few nice ones I continued to run that area and pulled on what felt to be some real quality fish. I tried to get this pattern to hold up all over the luck but only managed to get minimal success. It was something about this area, I'm thinking it had a lot to do with that it was on a semi flat with some nice early vegetation coming up, but more importantly the bottom was made up of pea gravel. We also were able to find a couple nice early weedlines that were holding fish, although none that we caught were over 15 inches, however there were numbers of fish holding up there.

Right at take off I decided I would go straight to my set of decks. It didn't take two skips and I set on pretty nice 15 1/2 inch largemouth. Decision time. Tournament rules in the state of Wisconsin is that a bass has to be at least 14" to keep and there is no culling allowed. Which meant I had to gamble. Throw the bass back and gamble that I'll catch bigger and possibly risk catching not another one? I opted to put the first one in the box and get the skunk out of the boat. Two flips later and I set the hook on what appeared to be a HOG! 10 seconds later and a nice 40" muskie surfaced from under a dock. Pretty cool but not the right kind. He was still fun though. As the morning went on I was having no problem catching bass, the only problem was their size. Since I was catching so many I kept throwing them back banking on that I was going to catch some bigger ones. I even threw back one that was just over 16". As noon passed I started to get antsy and started keeping anything over 14" to make sure I still came in with a nice limit.

As the afternoon wore on I decided I would try to work my deeper weedline to see if maybe the bigger ones that I was catching in practice had decided to move out a bit. Again it was quantity over quality though. On the weedline I was having most of my bites come on reaction style baits. I caught a few on a Strike King Red Eye Shad (Bluegill), but most of my fish fell victim to the Amp Lures Midshooter (Bluegill) or a Amp Lures 3/8 oz. Musashi Spinnerbait (Sweetfish). The funny thing was that I also caught another muskie over 40" on the Musashi Spinnerbait as well. And they say the muskie is the fish of 10,000 casts!

At the end of the day I weighed in four fish for 8.7 pounds. Keep in mind the tournament had a four fish limit. My weight was good enough for seventh place. I was definitely hoping to start out the season with a little better finish but all in all I was happy. I fished real well but I just never got the big bites I needed. My next tournament is at Deer Lake, hopefully I'll get those big bites there!

10th Annual St. Jude Bass Classic - Day 2

Mississippi River Pool 4 & 5, Wabasha, MN

After making all the wrong decisions on Day One of the tournament, Ryan and I decided we would let the weather dictate our pattern for Sunday. If the wind would allow us we would head for Pepin and try to cash in on the good sized smallies that we had patterned in practice. If the wind was blowing and again making Pepin impossible to fish than we would head South to Pool 5 , lock thru and fish for the nice smallies we had found a week earlier in practice and possibly get a nice largemouth to boot.

At take off we decided that with the cold temps (high 30's), the relatively light wind, and the high bluebird skies, that we would once again venture north to Lake Pepin. Decision making is extremely important on this body of water. The winds seem to turn on and off within seconds. Making a decision to either go North to Pepin or South to Pool 5 so critical because there really isn't any turning back. The amount of time it would take to get to our fishing holes on the North end of Pepin is about twenty minutes at 65 mph in perfect conditions. If the wind picks up it could take at least 45 minutes. If you get all the way up there and find that your areas are completely washed out it would take more than and hour to run all the way back down river to Pool 5, lock through the damn, and get to your fishing areas. Than take your drive time back, again through the damn for weigh in, and you can waste at least half of your day driving and not fishing.

We arrived on our spots on Pepin and were pleasantly surprised that are areas were very fishable. The only problem was we couldn't catch anything. We decided to work a couple nice underwater points very slowly, we did get bites but the only fish boated were to small to keep. There is a 14 inch minimum on this stretch of river and I'll tell you they are always 13 1/2 when you really need a fish. After spending half the day on Pepin with no success we decided to head back to the river and fish the backwaters of Pool 4 and try to get a limit of largemouths. WIth only a few hours to go, no fish in the livewell, we arrived in a pretty nice looking area. Ryan got a couple bites early, some that missed and some that broke off. Not really sure whether they were bass or northern pike, it was still incentive enough to continue to fish hard through the area. We were both flippin' light weighted tubes with rattles, 1/8 oz., into the grass around the current. With about 45 minutes to go I finally boated a descent largemouth, about 16 inches. Than two flips later I got bit again, but as luck would have it, the fish came unbuttoned. At this point it didn't surprise me.

Back at weigh in there were teams who did have big sacks and there were a lot of zeros. With the unseasonably cold weather we were having it appears that the smallmouths were still in big groups and if you could find them you could catch them all day. After the weigh in was over it appeared that all the teams that did real well were fishing mild current in the cuts off the main river of Pool 5. That's were the biggest schools of smallies seemed to be staging. After the tournament I couldn't help but think what if we never would have had such luck on Pepin on the last day of practice. We probably never would have headed that way at all. Although that's what I mean when I say decision making is so critical in bass tournaments. Could a, should a , would a, does not cash paychecks, although they are a great learning lessons.

Needless to say after this tournament I can't wait to head out to Wisconsin and start preparing for a couple of club tournaments on Bone and Deer Lake. Happy Fishing!

10th Annual St. Jude Bass Classic - Day 1

Mississippi River Pools 4 & 5, Wabasha, MN

Talk about a weekend to put behind me. I woke up real early on Friday morning to get down to Wabasha by 6 am and awoke to temps in the mid 30's with sleet. I headed down to the mighty Mississippi and found it was mighty indeed. The waves were starting to pick up on Lake Pepin and the current was blazing on the main river. Historically this time of year I have never done that well on this stretch of the river. Knowing this I made sure to spend an ample amount of time trying to prepare for this event. The weeks before the tournament I spent my time everywhere from the backwater sloughs, the shoots on the main river, and the main river itself. All the while I was never able to put together a confident pattern. Water temps have been extremely cold (40's and very low 50's), so I spent most of my time working areas slow with tubes, jigs, and rattle trap style baits. I never caught many fish during practice and when I did there was no rhyme or reason to why I caught them. They were real scattered.

So once I arrived to Wabasha on Friday morning I decided since I wasn't having any luck on the main river that I would spend the majority of the day fishing Pool 4, mainly Lake Pepin. After running lots of water, my tournament partner Ryan and I were able to put together the best pattern yet! We were concentrating on small points and underwater points, as well as marina's and we were throwing jerkbaits with some nice success. I was throwing a Lucky Craft Pointer (chartreuse Shad) and Ryan was throwing a Husky Jerk, the biggest one I caught was just over four pounds. We decide instead of fishing and actually hooking the fish we would search for good looking water and waypoint our spots to my Lowrance units so we could more efficiently run our water during the actual tournament. After doing this we decided to check a couple of backup spots and get of the water so we could fill up the boat, register, and get our tackle ready for the next day. Our main plan was to attack Pepin in the morning, get our limit of smallmouth and then head to the river and look for a couple nice kicker fish in the afternoon, once the backwater warmed up a bit.

Little did we know we woke up Saturday morning to a horrible cold front, lots of rain and heavy winds. Being that we were both inexperienced on this body of water we decided to stick to our game plan. That would end up being our biggest mistake. Once we hit the mouth of Lake Pepin we were met with four foot rollers, not the most ideal conditions when we needed to get about twenty miles up lake. Lake Pepin is a monster in the fact that when the wind is howling there is no place to hide to get out of it. We arrived to our first and best area and saw that it was completely washed out. We attempted to fish it but only beat ourselves up in the process. The water was coming over the bow of the boat, and the trolling motor kept coming out of the water so we were mainly at the mercy of the waves. Luckily for us as I worked on just controlling the boat Ryan was able to catch a nice three pound smallmouth.

After wasting way to much time on the lake, with only one fish in the livewell we decided to head to the river. We hit one of our better spots we had in the river and Ryan flips a 4 pound largemouth into the boat! That was huge! With three hours to go all we have to do is get a few more bites and we should be doing real well. When it rains it pours. My trolling motor batteries started to die. After spending so much time on the lake dealing with those massive waves I hardly had any juice left. Which meant we had to get out of the current to insure we could continue to fish. We fished some marinas with no success and then decided to check some of the way backwater areas where the current should be minimal and the water temps should be rising. Getting to these backwater areas can be hazardous though. This time of year the river is in a flood stage and you never really know what's safe and what's not. A lot of times you just need to get up on plane and say a prayer. Well remember when I said it when it rains it pours? Well after getting all the way back there, not catching any keepers, we had to make it back to weigh in. With 15 minutes to go I was idling out from under a bridge and CRUNCH, I hit some rocks. Not good. Can this day be any better? After weighing in on day one we were at 7.16 pounds and way out of contention. It was either hit or miss for the rest of the field as well. Either you had a HUGE sack or you were in the bottom looking way up. After loading up my boat we checked out the damage, broke of a chunk of the skag, bent back to blades on the prop, and cracked some of the fiberglass on the bottom of the boat. Hopefully all is still in tact with my prop shaft and lower unit.

After the weigh in we attended the benefit dinner put on at Slippery's bar and grill, and also listened to a benefit put on by the St. Jude organization. I can't tell how touching it really was. I quickly realized how lucky I am to be able to do what I enjoy and there are kids out there that may never get that chance. It puts a guy in his place in a quick hurry and I remembered exactly why I was there. It was great to hear how our donations go out to help thousands of kids, so that God willing one day they will get the opportunity to case their dreams. Going to bed that night everything didn't seem so bad. The boat will be fixed, hopefully the fishing will be better, but we were all fishing for a great cause and that's all that really matters.

Ryan and I were able to raise over $1,900 dollars for the St. Jude's Children Hospital, and together as a group the tournament brought in over $120,000 dollars. I would like to thank everyone who donated to such a wonderful cause! Check back soon as I will update our second day of the tournament.